Mr Gabriel Kalcheim

Contact Mr Gabriel Kalcheim (email at gabriel.kalcheim@durham.ac.uk)

PhD Student and Teaching Assistant

My background, before coming to Durham, was mainly in Ancient Philosophy. I initially proposed a project relating to Augustine’s treatment of ‘the Platonists’. However, largely as a result of my engagement with the very strong community of New Testament Scholars here, I began to grapple with the question of how to reconcile the very different, if not contradictory ways in which Paul talks about justification (in Romans 3 as opposed to Romans 3 for example). Wishing very much to be able to read Romans integrally, and to have a unifying framework by which to do so, I conceived the project of offering a reading of what Paul has to say about justification within the framework of Platonic Philosophy, and, in particular, the figure of the Philosopher/Lover. My method to some extent mirrors that of Catherine Pickstock in After Writing, where a reading of Plato was offered as a framework by which to understand the Catholic liturgy. In my case, a reading of Plato is used to attempt to read coherently the different things Paul says about justification. 

Research Interests

• Augustine
• Paul and Justification
• Plato and Platonism

Is supervised by

• Professor Christopher Insole
• Professor John Barclay